The Year Time Forgot or When Rememberalls Go Bad
by jarensgod
Summary: This is a fun little ditty about some of the lesser known characters at Hogwart's. Something bad has happened at Hogwart's (when doesn't it) but no one seems to remember... Weird. Read, enjoy... maybe review, maybe not.


There isn't an inch of this place I don't know inside and out. I may be the only person in the entire history of Hogwart's that knows where every secret entrance and hidden passage goes, but it's all part of my job. I keep track of the comings and goings of everyone that sets foot inside the door—and even those people who come in without using the doors. I have been for a great many years—even since Dumbledore saved me from a horrible curse and brought me here to live.

You see… I used to be an Auror back in the day. I was one of the best—that was until the day Mad Eye Moody and I tracked down Barty Crouch Jr. I had the unfortunate privilege of being the first through the door, so the spell hit me full on. Then, when I was writhing around on the floor, Mad Eye interrupted the spell and I was left half-human, half whatever. Just so you understand, no one can live half transfigured for very long, so I was just about dead when Moody finally grabbed the port-key Dumbledore had given me and brought me to Hogwart's. Nothing could be done to make me human again, but Dumbledore saved my life, and I have lived here ever since.

Well, back to the real story…today was the first day of school. The school year brings a plethora of new smells to sort through. During the summer keeping track of the comings and goings here is easy, but with the fall comes new students, failed potions, transfigurations both successful and not, and… please don't forget the dirty socks. Luckily there are only a few students I am charged with keeping an eye on, and I've learned how to track them well enough over the past four years. Although, I do have to add that even those three never give me an easy time of it—the trouble they don't get themselves into... There are days that I want to throw my hands in the air and give up, except that I don't have hands anymore.

Now the feast is over, and the students are all tucked into their beds. It is my time. I have checked on my charges and wandered through the halls, searching at random for the scents that mean trouble. For today at least, all seems to be well. All that is left is for me to report in then I am off to my comfortable bed by the fire.

The door opened as I approached—he's very good at that, seeing things just before they happen, I mean. 

"Good evening my friend. Come in. Come in, sit down and tell me what you have discovered."

I walked over and sat in the chair next to the desk. "Good evening Professor. All seems to be well with Mr. Potter. I came by way of the back corridors and sensed nothing out of the ordinary. It is a quiet night."

The professor sat behind his desk and smiled down at me. "Good. Good. Unfortunately, I don't believe that the quiet will last for long."

I nodded. "No. Voldemort's return is likely to make it difficult for any of the students to receive an uneventful education—Mr. Potter least of all."

I was just about to continue when a wave of pressure washed over me. The was no sound or change in the drafts of the room, it just felt as though the air pressed down on me for a moment then lifted. I snorted and shook my head, trying to clear my ears, then looked up at the Professor. "What was that?"

He frowned. "Pardon?"

"Professor, didn't you just feel that? It was like a great hand pressing in on me."

Dumbledore stared at me, perplexed. "Perhaps in was a change in the weather. Aren't you supposed to be sensitive to atmospheric changes and the like?"

I nodded, but wasn't at all convinced. "Perhaps that was all it was. Well, since Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are all snug in their beds, I am off for another quick walk about then I am crawling into my bed."

The professor's expression of confusion deepened. "Who did you say were snug in their beds?"

"Mr. Potter and his friends." I reached up and leaned on the desk. "Are you feeling well, Professor?"

Dumbledore just stared at me. "Mr. Potter? I don't understand. We don't have a Potter registered at Hogwart's this year. Is he a new student?"

"Harry Potter… of course you know Harry Potter. He has attended this school for four years. He has been more trouble than all the other students put together with all his Voldemort troubles…" Dumbledore's face remained blank. "Do you want me to get Madame Pomfrey? I think you might be falling ill." Then it occurred to me… the pressure without sound. A spell. Was it just Professor Dumbledore, or was it more serious? Who did I go to first?

I leapt out of the chair. "I have to go and look into this Professor. I will report back once I know more about what is going on." I ran to the door but couldn't open it and turned back. "Professor, if you wouldn't mind?"

He frowned at me for a moment then jumped up. "Oh, of course, I'm sorry." He opened the door and stepped aside. "I'll look into this Potter business."

"So will I." I ran down the corridor, spoke the password and bolted through the secret door. Why would anyone cast a spell so that the professor would forget who Harry Potter was? Where did I have to go first? Who needed to know? What did I need to do?

First thing, check on Mr. Potter and the other two then I'd go to Professor McGonagall and see just how serious the situation was. Maybe then I would check with Hagrid and put him on alert for intruders… Filch would have to know too.

I ran through the Gryffindor common room and up the stairs. The door to Mr. Potter's room was ajar, so I slipped through and trotted silently over to his bed. The bed was made, the covers unwrinkled, and none of the usual boy paraphernalia was lying around the bedside stand or chair. I jumped up onto the bed… no Harry Potter. I leapt over to the table and then down onto the chair. All of his things were gone. 

I hurried to Mr. Weasley's bed only to find that he too was missing, along with all of his belongings. The rest of the boys were lying fast asleep as though nothing had happened. As I ran from the room, I suspected that I already knew what I would find in Miss Granger's room, but I had to know for sure before I went to McGonagall. 

Upon finding that Hermione Granger was also missing, I flew through the castle to Professor McGonagall's room and banged on the door. 

"What on earth could anyone want at this time of night?" she demanded as she opened the door. For a moment, she scanned the hallway over my head then looked down and saw me there. "Mrs. Norris?"

"Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger are all missing. I was talking to Professor Dumbledore when he suddenly forgot who Mr. Potter was—he didn't remember him at all. Just before he forgot, I felt a strange pressure in the room, so I thought it might be a spell that made the Professor forget Mr. Potter. I went up to check the dormitory and all three children were missing. Their trunks are even gone… it's like they were never here, and I know they were, I checked on them not a hour ago."

Professor McGonagall stared at me for a moment, then pursed her lips. "You aren't making any sense, Mrs. Norris. First of all, who is missing? Harry Potter? I don't know whom you're talking about. Those three children don't even attend school at Hogwart's." 


End file.
